Patients in UAE to benefit from new electronic link system

Dubai: A new electronic link system between government hospitals will have a dramatic positive impact on providing health care to patients, senior health ministry officials said.

The electronic record system called Wareed, will reduce medical errors, duplication of drug prescription and wastage of essential medicines. It will also help cut down on the waiting time for patients.

The electronic link will give paramedics instant access to a patient's records in a crisis. It will be able to alert ambulances on the waiting time at the emergency section of a hospital, so the critical patient can be driven to a less crowded hospital.

The system will be able to analyse long-term trends and patterns in disease management. Doctors and health care providers complain that presently there is hardly any study done of major diseases in the country and no registry detailing the number of people suffering from cancer to diabetes.

Dr Hanif Hassan, Minister of Health, said the system will ensure safety of patients and improve efficiency in the heath care sector. In the near future patients will be able to access their records online and noted that checks have been placed so that all information is secure.

He said the system is now operational at Shaikh Khalifa Hospital and Mushairaf Health Centre in Ajman. The second phase will include Sharjah hospitals such as Kuwait and Al Qassimi Hospitals and the health centres in Sharjah.

The final phase which will be completed by the end of the year will connect all 15 government hospitals and 68 affiliate clinics across the country.

Future plans are to also connect it to all private hospitals. Dr Hassan said every month two hospitals will be connected to the system.

Dr Aref Al Nourani, director of Al Qassimi Hospital, said presently there is duplication in work in the hospitals. “The major complaint is that patients cannot reach the doctor when they call," he said. “There is also wastage in medicines," he said, explaining that as patients move they see a new doctor, who then prescribes a new set of drugs.

Dr Mike Gillam, director of research at Microsoft, earlier told Gulf News that this migration from paper to an electronic system will change the patients' experience at a hospital. “Earlier, the hospital was the centre of universe, where you got your [medical] records and talked to a doctor. With this, the patient will own the data, and they will know what needs to be done next," he said.

Dr Al Nourani said setting up the system required huge challenges as training of the large number of staff. Training of staff is presently underway at Kuwaii Hospital in Sharjah, said Muna Alsari, head of administrative services at the Hospital.